Bluegill in an aquarium, anyone ??

[Johnny]

My yougest daughter bought a 30 something gallon aquarium & dont know what kind fish she wants, so I'm think'n.... (duh) BLUEGILL,  I told her it would be a blast to have a pet BG, put in some lilly pads, drift wood, maybe a beer bottle on the bottom of the tank so it'll feel at home, no hassle feeding (rite outta the yard), its a no brainer.

 

What say you ?? 

[Johnny]

Oh wow, I dont see how they reach maturity, ther so bright looks like they would be a easy target for other fish, first time I've ever seen or heard of them.

[Suzanne Lazar]

Have you had a chance to try BG in the aquarium?

[Marcus Bullock]

30 gallons is too small for a bluegill, unless it's a stunted individual that wont ever grow larger than 4-5 inches..  and even then that's still too small!  50 gallons minimum..

 It has always been my dream to have an enormous 1,000 gallon aquarium, set up as a faithful recreation of a lake..  Toss in a bunch of live Corbicula Fluminea clams, some ramshorn snails, Bladder snails, some big fat shellcrackers, a couple of Largemouth bass and live hornwort plants..  Sure it would be a pain to maintain, but it would be better than TV imo!

  All the color and personality of cichlids without the habit of eating every plant you decorate with!

[Johnny]

I cant believe this is still a active post, I've been think'n about the size of the tank myself, loooked around on craigslist & bigger tanks are not hard to find but you can spend what ya want to.

Mite wait & get at least a 50 gal. unit, but while I have this one we mite should use it to learn from then upgrade...sounds good either way.

 

I took a load of concrete to a guys house a few years ago & he was a big shot at the Chattanooga aquarium (look it up, very well worth your time if you want something to do while in Chatt.), he had his old aquarium inside a shed beside his house, didnt see it in opperation but did get to look it over, the glass was at least an inch thick & sevral feet tall, the lines that pumped water was (if memory serves) 2 or 3 inches around, this thing was huge.

 And the concrete we took was to build a footer so he could reinforce a wall that would support a even bigger tank, always wish I could remeber how to get back to his house just to see how it turned out.

[Marcus Bullock]

PETCO has. 1$ per gallon deal going on.

[Suzanne Lazar]

I'd go ahead with the 30 gal just for fun. Start with tiny BG! I once caught one that couldn't have been more than 3" using #18 hook baited with a spider.

Or maybe net a couple fry, maybe they will grow up into BG- or-? And when they outgrow the aquarium, back to the lake!

[Suzanne Lazar]

Good caveat! Yeah, law enforcement might not be too understanding. And you wouldn't want to be responsible for spreading some aquatic pest. (Heh, I was just picturing somebody in a ninja suit returning a fish to a lake on a moonless night...)

It is loads of fun discovering all the different critters living in some weeds. Even the stuff rotting along the shore is full of life!